Those who agreed were to be given a badge which they were asked to wear as an ‘ally to progress’ for trans people and other minorities.
NHS Scotland ordered 27,940 badges across 13 of 14 health boards and forty per cent, or 11,131 of the badges, remain in storage.
NHS Lothian, Scotland’s second largest health board, only gave out 1,000 of 3,200 badges that were ordered.
Gender critical activists claimed the initiative was politically motivated and said NHS staff had been pressured to endorse a ‘dangerous ideology’.
Trina Brudge, a director at For Women Scotland, told the Daily Telegraph: ‘This may sound like a harmless scheme but it is underpinned by a dangerous ideology which harms women’s rights.
‘It is astonishing that NHS Scotland partners with a group like Stonewall which believes sex doesn’t matter and ideology trumps biology.
‘Given the pressures on the NHS, asking staff, many of whom may not understand the ethos behind it, to pledge to this ideology is absurd.
‘It is no surprise that so many of these political badges are lying in a drawer somewhere.’
Scotland’s NHS has been critcised in the past for offering smear tests for ‘anyone with a cervix’ under inclusive language rules.
Staff were told they must ‘call out hate speech’ and their badge would be a ‘signpost of safety’ for LGBT and minority groups.
A Scottish Government spokesman told the Daily Telegraph: ‘Our health system is based on the core values of care, compassion, openness, honesty, dignity and respect for everyone, irrespective of their individual identities.
‘The NHS Scotland Pride Badge encourages open and constructive conversations on difficult issues pertaining to ethnicity, age, sex and sexuality and showcases our commitment to foster an environment that is open, tolerant and inclusive for all.’
colinnew
